The Federal government has directed its road construction contractors not to use laterite as a base in road construction any longer.

Accordingly, lumps, sharp sand and stone base will form the base before laying of concrete or asphalt pavement of Federal roads.

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi gave the order at the inauguration of the committee for the supervision of the reconstruction of Benin – Warri dual carriageway and the dualization of East – West Road, Port Harcourt – Onne Port junction road in River State.

The Minister also warned that contract variation would no longer be taken with levity at the Ministry.

In a statement  on Friday by Blessing Lere-Adams  Director (Information) Press & Public Relations Unit, Federal Ministry of Works (FMW), Umahi noted that laterite has a limited load bearing capacity, susceptible to erosion and weathering especially in areas with heavy rainfall and this can lead to degradation of the road surface overtime, maintenance challenge and does not last long.

The statement reads: “We are giving very serious attention to the roads between Benin and Warri. The road between Eleme and Onne Port, we are mindful of the site conditions of these roads, the water conditions and the boreholes instead of pot holes on these roads.  No more laterite, contractors are now to use lumps, sharp sand and stone base in place of laterite.

“The Minister directed the newly inaugurated Road Taskforce Team that there must be a continuous maintenance of all the roads under construction until the end of the project and should make sure that the contractors are duly informed of the development, and that they should remember that the ministry is under the matching order given by Mr. President to fix Nigerian roads for the citizens to have ease of movement from one location to the other.

“The committee must implement the contract agreement with maintenance culture as key.  Committee members are to monitor the contractors closely to make sure things are done right.” 

The minister charged the contractors using asphalt pavement to ensure that their contracts are stable, sustainable, and can stand the test of time.

He also warned that the ministry would not go to the Federal Executive Council (FEC)to ask for an increment because of the fluctuating price of bitumen, insisting that the ministry will not go beyond the N6 trillion set aside for the ongoing projects completion.

Meanwhile, the committees constituted are as follows :

•  Reconstruction of Benin-Warri Dual Carriageway (Section 1 : By Levant Construction Company Ltd) Engr. C. Oke, Deputy Director HSSI; Engr. B. W. Hassan; Representative of the Honourable Minister; Representative of Highways MG&QC; Representative of Human Resources Department, FMW; Representative of Legal Department, FMW ; Representative of COREN; Representative of NSE.
• Reconstruction of Benin-Warri Dual Carriageway C (Section 11: By Geld Construction Company Ltd/Triata Nigeria Ltd (JV)) Engr. (Mrs) B.O. Ogunleye Ag. Director HSSII; Engr. Mathew Ogar (Ag. FCW, Delta); Representative of the Honourable Minister; Representative of Highways MG&QC; Representative of Human Resources Department, FMW; Representative of Legal Department, FMW; Representative of COREN and Representative of NSE.
• Reconstruction of Benin – Warri Dual Carriageway (SECTION III: BY SKCC Nigeria Ltd)
• Engr. Oladele Oladunjoye, Deputy Director Highways NC; Engr. Tari Enwereams, Chief Engineer Rivers State Field HQ; Representative of the Honourable Minister; Representative of Highways MG&QC; Representative of Human Resources Department, FMW; Representative of Legal Department, FMW; Representative of COREN and Representative of NSE
• Dualization of East-West Road, Section III: Port Harcourt (Eleme Junction)-Onne Port Junction Road in Rivers State. Engr. David Nwachukwu, Deputy Director Highways (RD-S); Engr. O. A. Adetunji, FCW, Rivers State; Representative of the Honourable Minister; Representative of Highways MG&QC; Representative of Human Resources Department, FMW and Representative of Legal Department, FMW.

“The Minister directed that a letter should be sent to the  Nigeria Union of Journalists requesting for a journalist each to be sent to each of the sites to report to the general public what is going on in the project site, and also a member of NUPENG to each of the project sites. 

“He promised that the ministry will provide all logistics to make sure the assignment goes on smoothly without hitches.

“Umahi also mentioned some other projects which Mr.  President has magnanimously approved and funds released for its construction, thus: the rehabilitation of the third mainland bridge, East-West Road between Warri and Cross Rivers, the reconstruction of Shadam-Lafia Bridge and New Artisan Bridge in Enugu that collapsed a week ago.

“The Minister on behalf of the Ministry thanked Mr. President for erasing the fear of the citizens and stressed that the ministry will have to double the response of Mr. President and have directed the Directors in charge of those zones to move straight to the site and do the needful.”

[Nation]

The Senate has pledged to expedite the review of the new minimum wage bill, with the assurance coming from Senator Diket Plang, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour, and Productivity.

The commitment was made in a statement released in Abuja on Friday.

Senator Plang emphasized the Senate’s dedication to enhancing the living standards of Nigerian workers and addressing the prevailing high levels of poverty. He pointed out that when the new minimum wage bill becomes law, it will further improve workers’ welfare and promote industrial harmony in the country.

He stated:

”Efforts of the Federal Government and the organised labour for agreeing to set in motion necessary machinery to review the current minimum wage as contained in the memorandum of understanding signed by the negotiating parties are commendable.

• ” The Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity under my chairmanship is prepared to give expeditious attention to the passage of a new Act once negotiation on the matter is concluded and such bill transmitted to the National Assembly for enactment.”

Senate’s dedication to worker welfare and decent work

Senator Plang also commended the Federal Government for its proactive measures in preventing a nationwide worker strike. However, he cautioned all parties involved to uphold the agreements reached.

• He remarked, “Nigerians and particularly members of this committee are happy that the looming industrial unrest was averted by a memorandum of understanding signed by the Federal Government, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress. However, all the parties involved should avoid reneging on any of the agreements reached.”

Furthermore, Senator Plang disclosed that the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour, and Productivity is committed to the principles of decent work as outlined by the International Labour Organization.

The committee intends to take legislative action to support initiatives aimed at enhancing the working conditions of Nigerians, including the implementation of a living wage, in line with the decent work agenda.

As I have stressed repeatedly, I have no partisan emotional investment in the political brawl between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, or in who is and is not president of Nigeria. My only partisan affinity is with the truth or, to reecho iconic Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, the best obtainable version of the truth.

This intervention is for people who genuinely want clarity from the blinding maze of propaganda and intentional falsehoods flying around. It’s not for sentimental partisan hacks and political devotees who just want an affirmation of and a comfort to their prejudices and preconceptions.

As an American citizen, a graduate of two American universities, and a professor in one, I can tell the reader three major things Atiku’s Nigerian lawyers and his supporters on social media— and in some openly partisan news sites— are getting wrong.

The major one is the idea that because Tinubu presented a certificate (called a “diploma” in America) to INEC that didn’t emanate from Chicago State University, whose registrar affirmed under oath that Tinubu graduated from there, he has committed forgery in the legal sense of the term. That thinking betrays ignorance of the American university system—and results from people using their limited Nigerian lenses to refract an American phenomenon that’s beyond their experiential reality. 

Certificates are not used as legal proof of graduation from any school in America and therefore can't be forged in the legal sense of the term. Only transcripts can be used as legal documents to validate the genuineness of claims to have attended institutions, including secondary schools. Had Tinubu presented a counterfeit transcript to support his claim of graduating from CSU when he didn’t, or merely to claim a higher GPA than he actually earned even when he graduated from there, that would have been forgery in the legal sense of the term, which is understood to mean “Criminal falsification by making or altering an instrument with intent to defraud.”

In this context, “intent to defraud” would mean Tinubu wanted to pass himself off as a university graduate when he wasn’t. But he is. His transcript says he is. The registrar of the university said under oath that he is. A classmate of his said under oath that they graduated from the school the same year. That’s all that matters.

 One indication of the legal worthlessness of certificates in America came from the CSU registrar’s admission in court that the school had many uncollected diplomas going as far back as the 1930s. Certificates are not required to prove graduation here. That’s why people can afford to ignore them.

Intriguingly, the registrar said Tinubu also didn’t collect his original certificate from the school and that it is still lying there. Why did he say he lost it? 

In the United States, a certificate is in many ways similar to a graduation ceremony. Most people attend it and listen to the president of the university formally confer diplomas on them with "all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto." But it has no force of law. Not attending a graduation ceremony doesn’t deprive you of “all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto."

 If you organize your own graduation ceremony, invite friends and family, and ask your father to confer your degree on you, it's fine so long as you validly earned the degree. Incidentally, an American family friend of mine did exactly that last May. His autistic son can't tolerate the sensory overload of large crowds. So, he organized his son’s graduation and invited friends and family. He dressed as the president, and his wife was the provost. His eldest daughter was the graduation speaker.

 In America, the diploma is the printed version—or fixed extension—of a graduation ceremony. It’s merely ceremonial and can be tweaked or individualized by anyone without legal consequences.

It betrays a stupendous poverty of legal and logical imagination to say that the “forgery” (unauthorized redesign is a better expression) of a non-legally-binding ceremonial document of a validly earned degree invalidates the degree. It’s never mentioned in CSU’s diplomas that alteration of the documents renders them invalid because they have no validity beyond being decorative documents. 

You find that kind of language here only on transcripts. On Tinubu’s CSU transcript, for instance, we find such legal language twice. The left-hand side of the transcript says, “Explanatory legend and authenticity confirmation information on back.” On the right-hand side, it says, “THIS RECORD IS NOT OFFICIAL UNLESS IT BEARS A SIGNATURE AND SEAL OF THE UNIVERSITY.”

The diploma does not have such language because in America the diploma is no more important than a school’s academic gown. For example, I use a cheaper, “forged” version of the academic gown of the university that awarded me a doctoral degree (that I ordered from a third-party vendor online) to attend graduation ceremonies at the school where I teach now. At the time I graduated with my doctoral degree, I could only afford to rent the gown. Most people here do the same. It doesn't invalidate our degrees because we’re using the unofficial academic gown of our universities.

I admit, though, that Tinubu was careless. He is in Nigeria where certificates have a different meaning and valence from the United States. He should have submitted CSU’s official diploma to INEC. But what he did does not, by even the most feverish stretch of conspiratorial fantasy, rise to the level of a Salisu-Buhari-type criminal forgery. 

Unlike Salisu Buhari who forged a University of Toronto degree that he didn’t earn, Tinubu attended and earned a degree from Chicago State University. What Tinubu did with his certificate is pointlessly self-harming in reputational terms in Nigeria, but it’s not illegal. 

The second major misconception of America came from Atiku’s lawyer by the name of Kalu Kalu. He said at a news conference on October 5 that “the Chicago State University admission application form has a claim that… the owner of that document is a Black American, and the document Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to INEC, he denied having dual citizenship which means it doesn’t belong to him.”

I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help myself from letting out a burst of deep, loud, hearty laughter when I read that. It’s pure hilarious ignorance! You see, America has an enduringly irresistible impulse to taxonomize humanity into discrete racial categories. Every official form here requests you to identify your race. The modern options are “White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.”

In the mid-1970s when Tinubu applied to study at CSU, what is now “Black or African American” on official forms in America was simply “Black American,” particularly in historically Black Universities like CSU.

The US Census Bureau has historically defined “Black or African American” as “A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.”

 “Black American” was the only category that closely applied to Tinubu, so he chose it because the form instructed him to “CHECK ONE BOX.” Checking the “Black American” box didn’t mean he called himself a Black American or that he impersonated a Black American. It only meant he identified HIS RACE as “Black American.” No more, no less.

The other options in the form were barely decipherable, but I could pick out “American Indian or Alaska Native,” something that looks like “Spanish Surname American,” another that looks like “Eurasian American,” etc. Although the form gave the option for “Other (explain),” most Africans here typically choose Black American as the closest description of their race.

Finally, a Dr. Abimbola Adenike Tinubu, who lives in a small town called Opelousas in the state of Louisiana, is being touted by social media trolls as the woman whose identity Bola Tinubu allegedly stole. The problem is that the lady was born in 1971, just 4 years before Tinubu enrolled at Southwest College. She graduated from the University of Ilorin in 1998 and came to the US later.

It's chronologically and rationally impossible for Tinubu to steal the identity of a 4-year-old Nigerian preschooler (who came to America decades after Tinubu left it) and then present himself as an adult male to enroll at a community college!

Plus, Dr. Abimbola’s Whitepages information shows that she has never lived in Virginia where the social security number associated with President Tinubu was issued or Chicago where he went to school. She has only lived in Tennessee, Texas, and Louisiana.

Look, Tinubu’s life is wrapped in multiple layers of mind-bogglingly intricate fraud, but you can't peel off these layers of fraud with fraud. You do it with the truth.

And Atiku can actually inflict fatal moral wounds on Tinubu and potentially immobilize him in 2027 if he pursues the leads that came out from his “fishing expedition” in Chicago. A low-hanging fruit is Tinubu's obviously fraudulent secondary school attendance claim.

 He can write to Cambridge University to verify the GCE A-level result that Tinubu presented to Southwest College. If it turns out that it’s fake or belongs to someone else, he can cause Daley College to rescind his associate degree. If his associate degree is rescinded, his bachelor's degree from Chicago State University will automatically follow. With no qualifications to present to INEC to prove that he has at least the equivalent of a secondary school certificate, he'd be legally ineligible to run again.

A document of unmatchable scurrility, last encountered during General Sani Abacha’s global campaign of calumny against opponents of his despotic, infernally venal and homicidal reign, is back in circulation. Duly modified to suit a debased internet culture, it is making its grimy rounds ironically under the auspices of a democratic political party, supposedly dedicated to an ethos of freedom of opinion and expression. The contents of that script are attributed, as before, to the scholastic industry of a Bristol schoolteacher.

While awaiting a decision from my lawyers whether or not to dignify the current sponsors of this mouldy tract with legal action, I wish to state in advance that I voluntarily waive all protection under the statute of limitations, and insist that the laws that govern fraudulent academic claims be invoked and applied to these allegations to the uttermost limit.  I also declare, in advance that, if found culpable, I shall  strip myself of any titles and honours I may have garnered in my entire career, from the most obscure to the most coveted.

In return, I expect the purveyors of this sordid material to submit all evidence, however minuscule, to the nation’s investigative agencies - Directorates of Prosecutions, EFCC, ICPC, plus affected institutions and others - within the next thirty days. Failing this elementary service in public interest within the stated time, and/or If such allegations are yet again proven baseless, thus indicating that their sponsors can boast of neither honours to their careers nor honour to their births and origins, then, as a token of moral recompense, they should undertake to jump off the bridge of the symbolic River Niger, provided with life jackets to ensure a life of remorse after this ritual purgation, but chained to one another in a commendable unity of purpose.

This is being copied to the Academic Staff Union of Nigeria, Pan-African Writers Association, Accra, Nigeran Association of Authors, the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, the University of Leeds, the alleged Bristol Primary Source and his school, and the infested media.  

Anthony Kila writes about the need for government and the public to celebrate teachers as Thursday, October 5, was observed as World Teachers Day.

Dear Readers

Yesterday (Thursday, 5th of October 2023) was a working day, on a personal note where were you physically and mentally and what did you do normally and differently?

There is no right or wrong answers to these questions since they are about personal events and activities. Just facts.

Well, while you are considering my questions and your answers, here are two other facts to reflect on: One, you are reading my missive today because you can read.

Two you can read because someone or some people somewhere taught you how to read. Yes, it is easy to forget that we were not born readers, it is easy to forget that there was a time we could not read essays like this one, it is easy to forget that there are still people who cannot read.

I admit we were not taught to do so but I recommend that once in a while we pause to reflect on these facts so that we can remember that some of the things we have, can do and take for granted were and are still the wishes and prayers of others. Some of the things we have, can do and take for granted are fruit of the endeavours of some other people.

Yesterday, was another World Teachers Day. It is an event held annually on the same day every year to celebrate all teachers around the globe. It is an occasion designed to commemorate the anniversary of the adoption of the “1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers” across the globe.

The recommendation sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers, standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment as well as teaching and learning conditions.

If you are one of the very many, too many, people that did not remember the World Teachers Day, let alone do anything about it, it is okay, you will neither be penalized on earth nor go to hell for it.

You are in a popular but I think bad company of hundreds of millions. There were no streetlights, nor rallies, no holiday nor newspaper adverts to celebrate teachers. Yesterday, on the World Teachers Day, doctors just carried on treating, bankers went on counting, diners just read their menus and ordered food, writers went on writing and even some teachers went on teaching as if nothing happened with no thoughts of the teachers that taught them to treat, count, read, write and teach.

Save for some pockets of exceptions here and there, teachers are not celebrities so no one celebrates them.

The World Teachers Day is just a symbolic day though, the rot and damage are deeper. One of the biggest evils committed by modern society and perpetuated by contemporary society is our nonchalant attitude towards knowledge and those that made us know.

The consequences are clear for all to see and it varies from society to society in time and in space. Here is another untaught lesson we need to review: Across the world (countries) and in communities (such as clubs and associations), there is a correlation between the level of knowledge, respect and recognition accorded to teachers on one side and the level of wealth and orderliness on the other side.

Societies with little respect for teaching and teachers are also poorer and more prone to crime and disorder.

I am a teacher and I agree that “charity begins at home” so in identifying the origin and causes of the lack of appreciation of teaching and teachers we must start by looking inwards.

A sober and objective introspection will leave us with no option but to admit that whilst on one side many of us have done well in teaching subjects (at least most of our students can count, read and write), most of us have not done well in interpreting our roles as priests of the temple of knowledge.

We have not done enough in teaching our students (and consequently the world) that teachers are not just the key to knowledge and bridge to the realization of dreams and desire but are also makers of men, creators of leaders and custodians of our future.

Let us be clear, a teacher that cannot inspire is not worthy of the title “teacher”, especially when conceived as a maestro, a teacher that bullies, harasses or extorts students is an anathema to teaching.

What we teach at CIAPS is that teachers need to make sure that the school and the classroom are places to want to be not escape. Yes, I know many teachers feel overworked, underpaid, undervalued and I argue that this is partly because teachers have not valued themselves enough.

It is time for our teachers to review the untaught lessons of self-worth and start acting accordingly.

The issues of having a decent, dignified and functional learning environment to teach for equally decent, dignified and functional pay are matters of government (of school and state).

Suffice to say it will be difficult to attain decency, dignity and functionality in a country that has no money but it is even more difficult to attain them in a system that does not value knowledge and those that serve knowledge. Values determine priority.

There is one thing that should not be too difficult to attain though: Governance.

Let the government roll back from school management and give teachers more independence to manage themselves.

Let governors and commissioners have less say in who becomes Vice Chancellors and school Heads. Allow teachers decide who manages them based on merit, knowledge and track record of managing education.

We the people (as students ex students and parents) are very guilty of many things and we have a lot of revision to do and amends to make, luckily it is not too late to start.

We can start by rediscovering the importance of teaching and teachers, we need to take time to think it through and reconsider what values we place on who and what we are and those who contributed to making us who and what we are.

Now that you are aware of “The World Teachers Day”, let us review another untaught lesson. I invite you to take some time to think of some teachers that have affected you for better or for worse and if you can send them a thought or a prayer.

I listed 15 teachers that have influenced me for better and for worse. Thoughts are essential and even great but actions will achieve more.

Imagine a world where 5% of those over 40 years old give about 100USD to their favourite teachers every year.

There is a heavy security presence at the premises of the Federal High Court, Umuahia, the venue for the sitting of the Abia Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.

The tribunal is set to deliver judgment today in the petitions filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Okey Ahiwe, and his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Ikechi Emenike, against the victory of Governor Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP).

Naija News reports that everybody, including reporters accessing the court premises, was subjected to screening by a combined team of security operatives.

After the screening, the tribunal judges entered the courtroom, and the counsels to the various parties announced their appearances, and the initial formalities were done.

However, the tribunal Chairman refuted reports that the litigants were told not to be in court, dismissing such reports as false.

Labour Party Chairman in the state, Ceekay Igara and a member representing Isiala Ngwa North and Isiala Ngwa South federal constituency, Hon Ginger Onwusibe (LP), among others, were sighted in the courtroom.

Also, PDP chieftains, including the former Commissioner for Sports, Barrister Esomonu Ugochukwu, were also sighted in the court.

Details later...

[NaijaNews]

Former Manchester United striker, Dimitar Berbatov, has dropped his predictions of how matches would end at different grounds on the Match-Day eight of the 2023-2024 Premier League season.

Burnley will tackle Chelsea on Saturday in an away Premier League tie at Turf Moor, while Manchester United will face Brentford at Old Trafford.

Arsenal will host Premier League holders Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Providing his predictions, Berbatov was quoted by Metro UK as saying:

Luton Town 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Burnley 1-1 Chelsea
Fulham 2-1 Sheffield United
Brighton & Hove Albion 2-2 Liverpool
Manchester United 1-0 Brentford
Everton 1-1 Bournemouth
Crystal Palace 0-1 Nottingham Forest
West Ham United 2-1 Newcastle United
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Aston Villa
Arsenal 2-2 Manchester City

[DailyPost]

Many petroleum products depots are currently deserted due to lack of products caused by foreign exchange rate volatility, as the landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, has increased to N720/litre, oil marketers said on Thursday.

Petroleum products’ dealers also stated that filling stations were shutting down daily in large numbers, as it was becoming increasingly tough to run the business. They said this could lead to widespread fuel scarcity in coming months.

It was further gathered that the landing cost of PMS into Nigeria had increased to N720/litre, up from N651/litre in August this year.

Speaking at the National Executive Council meeting of the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria, in Abuja on Thursday, the National President, NOGASA, Benneth Korie, said a lot of depots were presently dried up or out of stock.

He said, “Depot owners are so terribly affected by the increasing cost of crude oil and exchange rate, to the extent that many depots are practically deserted as their owners are unable to secure bank loans to fund their business due to high-interest rates.

“Banks are not willing to guarantee funds release to stakeholders as a result of the difficulty, instability and galloping rates of foreign exchange and high cost of the dollar. Many depots are presently dried up or out of stock, and this is no gainsaying as it is evidently verifiable.”

He added, “Worst hit are filling stations whose owners find it extremely difficult to secure funds to procure products for their retail outlets. Both the independent and major marketers are so terribly affected.

“As of today, filling stations are shutting down in great numbers on a daily basis and dealers are going out of business, with many more on the verge of bankruptcy because of their inability to secure funds to facilitate orders for their stations.”

Korie said the government must therefore urgently come to the aid of the industry as quickly as possible to save it from an impending colossal collapse, which would result in a more devastating blow to the economy at large.

N720/litre landing cost

The PUNCH further gathered that the landing cost of petrol has risen to N720/litre from N651 in August.

The Chief Executive Officer, PETROCAM Trading (Nig) Ltd., Patrick Ilo, during an interview session with The PUNCH, said 52,000 metric tonnes of petrol imported by the company on Tuesday was already N720/litre without subsidies.

According to him, if the landing cost was already N720, the pump price should be around N729/litre in Lagos State if the Federal Government had truly stopped subsidising the product.

“This is the second time I am bringing in my vessel. But after bringing it in, I am trapped. I can’t sell it because I landed my own product at N720. And if you add transportation from depot to station, the value today should be N729/litre at the pump.”

He blamed the price hike on high foreign exchange rate, adding that the Federal Government was still subsidising petrol through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

The foreign exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria as of Wednesday was around N766/$1, while it hovered around N990/$ at the parallel market.

He said.”Yes, PETROCAM has an import license, and we have products in Nigeria. I want to say this out loud that I brought (in product) 52,000 metric tonnes of PMS today, which I borrowed about sixty-something million dollars to import.

“But I cannot sell. Why? Because of the price NNPC is selling. NNPC to my mind, they are still subsidising. NNPC is quietly subsidising the market. And I don’t blame the government. It is when we have a stable government that there could be prosperity.”

Ilo added, “As of today, NNPC is subsidising these products. And I’m talking about a subsidy of more than N100/litre. Because if you need to sell today, I landed my own product at N720. So how do you look at it? You look at it from the perspective of how much is diesel”

[Punch]

Naira, our local currency has taken a huge tumble and a nose-dive that is unprecedented in the history of any monetary instrument. The naira over a protracted period of time has almost become a non-convertible currency. It has assumed the position of an unenviably worthless piece of paper suffering the vicissitudes of it’s own circumstances and redundant fate.

The change of fortune of the naira and its unwelcome and unpleasant pestilence did not begin today. It started way beyond the times that our common imaginations can ascertain. It started from the era when the men in khaki with zero clue on how to run an economy, seized the reigns of government, and down to the period when the same men, donning civilian clothes., babanriga and agbada, pretending to be democrats and bearing all the solutions to our problems, transitioned into politics. In these periods, the rapid fall of our currency began and never looked back.

I recall with nostalgia events that occured in the mid 1970s when I attended the University of Nigeria. Prior to our graduation, we the graduating students were interviewed on campus by prospective employers from the public services and the private sector. I was interviewed by the Central Bank, Customs and Immigration Services, the Foreign Ministries, and by companies like UAC, Lever Brothers, John Holt, Breweries and others. All these organizations were jostling for the bright students and dangling incentives to attract our attention and services. The top pay at that time was a monthly emolument of about N2,000. This was more than sufficient for a new entrant to the world of employment. This amount, at that time, was equal, if not more than US$4,000.

Upon graduation, I and other graduands were very anxiously holding on tightly to the admonition delivered at our Nsukka campus Convocation grounds by the former Nigeria’s President, Nnamdi Azikiwe. The great Zik in delivering his speech, after dwelling on the bright promises our country held for us, asked us to go ahead and see our country and the world as our Oyster, urging us to seize all the beautiful opportunities they had in stock for us. Azikiwe’s speech stayed on with me for a long time, but little did I know that the Oyster he talked about was very soon to turn into a deformed crab without any legs or claws.

After graduation, I was posted to the then peaceful and beautiful city of Jos in Plateau State to serve the one year compulsory National Youth Service assignment. After orientation, most of us were offered accommodation and our monthly allowance was N180. Out of this allowance we fed, clothed and transported ourselves to work daily. Looking back now, I must confess that this allowance was more than sufficient for us. We never complained, but lived a very decent life out of N180 per month. I belonged to a group of “bobos” who held weekly parties (we called it shindigs then). We would contribute N5 each to a common purse and we gathered enough funds to buy a goat (N10), Chickens (N1 each), some beer (10k per bottle), and other requirements to host a decent party with very little funds. Our naira had value, and was as strong, if not stronger than many other currencies.

When I began a journey to the United States of America for graduate studies, my first port of entry was the JFK airport in New York City. My ticket on board the brand new Nigeria Airways Boeing 747 piloted by the legendary pilot Captain Allwell Brown, was N300. Upon arrival at the airport, I visited a money changing kiosk and handed over N400 to the cashier who in exchange gave me about $600. Today, if I attempted to exchange the naira currency at this airport or any other parts of the world, not only will this currency not be recognized or accepted, one may risk being detained or arrested for passing off a strange Instrument of payment. In less than 50 years, the naira has lost its glory, and has become as worthless as the paper on which it is printed.

Nigeria’s exclusion from the global currency ranking should not come to anyone as a surprise, given that the country has ascended to one of the world’s poorest and undeveloped nations. The lack of respect that the naira commands amongst many, if not most other legal tenders, is a long festering indication of the economic disaster plaguing the country over many decades. Eventhough the Nigerian economy is supposedly the largest within the continent of Africa, a strong and influencing factor that should elevate the evaluation of its currency, the benchmark of this naira, remains abysmally and dangerously low and disappointing.

The continuing decline in the value of the naira may be traced to various factors; the decline in oil production and prices, the waning global dependence on oil and the detrimental effect, stifling inflation, expenditure of foreign currency to honour obligations to international creditors, distorted economy with unstable governments and democracy, incoherent and dependent monetary policies, and the most significant being, the indolence and lack of vision of those in charge of our monetary and economic affairs.

To further probe the circumstances and find a perfect distillation of the melange and the sickness that befell the naira, is to observe the weak fiscal performance that pushed the country closer to a fiscal precipice. The past years of Buhari’s administration brought a mix of heightened political tension and deteriorating socioeconomic conditions that relapsed economic growth. During most of Buhari’s tenure the economic performance was driven mostly by the Non-oil sector, which posted a cumulative average growth of about 5 percent, while the Oil sector contracted by well over 20 percent. The oil sector decline was due to the prolonged reduction in domestic crude oil production as a result of massive oil theft and other disruptions. The Agricultural and Industrial sectors while experiencing weak productivity levels contracted significantly, posting negative growth that also affected the value of the naira.

The Central Bank of Nigeria is responsible for manufacturing, issuing, controlling and protecting the naira. In discharging its monetary policy postures, the CBN in the recent past has taken a somewhat hawkish position by increasing the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) several times. The monetary institution, similarly increased other policy parameters, such as the Cash Reserves Ratio (CRR). All these measures were adopted to constrain the money supply growth in the economy and rein in inflation while shoring up the value of the naira and reducing capital flight.

The efficacy of the Central Bank measures have been questioned and doubted by economists who pointed to the adverse effects of these policies when they triggered further depreciation of the local currency against other foreign currencies, mostly the US dollar. The critics blamed the redesign of the naira in December of 2022, amongst other factors, for the catastrophic collapse of the naira.

Between 2022 and today, the naira has depreciated by well over 50 percent in the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E), and the parallel market rates to N700/US$ and N900/US$ respectively. The consequences of these rapidly accelerating variables are the dire distortions aiding the volatility of the naira.

Amongst the many structural and vulnerability variables that have over the decades been bedeviling the economic well-being of the country, the most devastating is the shocks presented by the fall of the naira. How can any economy grow when its local currency has gravely lost value and indeed, lost current? What has worsened the poverty index in the country, is that food insecurity, energy crisis and inflationary pressures have persisted, thus driving the cost of living over the roof. Similarly, the economy’s negative positions and vulnerabilities got exercabated due to the adverse effects of the importation of petroleum products and the ever-nagging petroleum subsidy issue in a country that is one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil. The amplification of these issues further worsened and weakened the position of the naira locally and globally.

The fragility of economic growth in Nigeria is conversely tied to the stability of the naira, but its somersaulting acrobatics over several years, have rendered the people despondently poor and impoverished. The diminished value of the currency has completely decimated the prosperity for the people. Try buying pepper in our local markets and hear the local traders lament that the low value of the naira against the US dollar and perhaps many other currencies, is the reason food items have become extremely expensive. The local motor park economists are all quick to tie the deficiency of the naira to its inconvertible value and to its incapacity to sustain any bargaining powers or strength.

As we ponder the many unstable economic environments, especially the macroeconomic ones that have rendered the various sectors incapacitated and unable to drive economic growth, is there any hope, is there any light at the end of the proverbial dark and swampy tunnel? To present a drastic reversal of the impending doom, particularly with the dying currency, our objective should require that we sustainably achieve at least an 8.5 to 10 percent growth rate per annum in our Industrial and Manufacturing sectors. This projection if achieved, will create more jobs and ensure that our unemployed graduates receive decent and well-paying employment. Additionally, we must reduce our overreliance on oil and gas and their petrodollar inflows, and avoid our vulnerability to the external shocks that occur as a result of microeconomic and macroeconomic instabilities in terms of volatile exchange rates, huge external debts, mounting local debts, diminishing foreign reserves, high unemployment, high inflation, and unstable fiscal and monetary regimes.

I am particularly troubled by the total enervation of the naira, the weakening and the draining of its energy and vitality. It has been made naked and deprived of the strength that it used to have. There is ample acknowledgement and evidence of the thrashing and beat-down of this currency, and the ripple and devastating effects of the cycle upon cycle of malevolent destruction and repeated obliteration. It appears that the nature of its tralatitiousness and its malfeasance in the hands of our leaders and policy makers over the decades, remain unabetted.

I began this essay as a raconteur; telling the stories of the glorious days of the naira, deliberately, and with an anecdote for every reason for us to evaluate the evanescence of our currency; its fleeting tendency to vanish like vapor, and fading away before our own very eyes. I have a certain feeling of torschlusspanik; a fear that time to act is running out, and that we may have dug a deep grave for our generation and many more to come for an implacable and an unstoppable fall to disgrace, hunger, and dystopia.

Our situation is not completely hopeless even as I am more pessimistic as any realistic person should be. The reason being that it appears that we may still be dwelling in paramnesia, and a condition of confabulation where those who should provide us with solutions are still living in confusion and fantasy. I am yet to see any serious policy thrust from our new government aimed at reversing the misfortune of the naira. Instead, what we see is what one may call a pococurante and almost apathetic statements without much weight or power.

Even as I have always stated that no one person or group has the solution to our myriads of problems, there are various reform solutions that have been advanced by well-intentioned Nigerians, of which I have been fortunate to be one. Unfortunately, it appears that the advice of these very few persons and groups has not been taken into consideration.

There are many critical reform strategies that I believe will create stability for the economy, and rescue the naira. Some of them are; to increase foreign exchange availability by removing capital controls, and encourage and promote the inflow of stable investments in the oil and non-oil sectors, ensure the appropriate pricing, rationing and management of foreign exchange by instituting a transparent and clear forex policy that will ensure market stability and restore investors confidence, control the spiralling inflation by synchronizing the fiscal and monetary policies of enhancing the efficiency of the CBN to project expansionary fiscal thrust policies. In addition, the authorities must develop agricultural value chains that encompass the much talked about, but nothing done, Commodity Exchange Market, and the integrated agro-processing industrial chain. This will enhance local production and competitiveness and save the country from dependence on dollar-based imports. Also of importance, is the removal of all export and foreign exchange restrictions by promoting and facilitating trade and exports that will support and deepen foreign exchange earnings.

Say and write what we may about the economic conditions of our country and the floundering position of the naira, the abundance of the aporia remain with our policy makers and our leaders. The wisdom, stoicism and selflessness found in true and upright leaders will determine the growth and development of our country. However, my philosophical inclination is the difficulty inherent in our leadership issues which imply that those who govern must first achieve governance of themselves, straighten out their souls, conquer their appetite for stealing, set their soiled characters aright; for the one who is tipping over and falling all over the place, cannot straighten others, nor can a thief teach or organize a disorganized country.

How can our naira not go to the pits when the custodians have been bent and toppled over by their innate idiocy, greed, avarice, foolishness and slippery fingers?

THE United Kingdom,UK, and Rwanda who conspired to have hapless migrants flown from London to open prison in Kigali, are trying hard to keep their unholy alliance on track. Ironically, the main driver of this criminal anti-immigration conspiracy, 43-year-old British Attorney General Suella Braverman, is of Indian origin whose parents, Uma and Christie Fernandes, migrated from Mauritius and Kenya.

Her boss, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s grandparents were Indians born in Pakistan, while his parents migrated from East Africa. The amiable King Charles III is a descendant of William the Conqueror who migrated from Normandy in France and whose forebears were Scandinavian Vikings. On the other hand, the Rwandan President Paul Kagame, knows what it is to be a migrant as his parents fled the country when he was two, and he was raised in refugee camps in Uganda.

It would have been expected that these leaders, given their backgrounds would be sympathetic to migrants, but the anti-migration conspiracies of the countries they lead, suggest otherwise. In order to carry out the inhuman act of rounding up illegal migrants, half of who are Indians and Africans, and sending them to an uncertain but difficult future in Rwanda, both countries tried to convince the world that what they are doing is compassionate work in the service of humanity. The argument presented by Braverman is that: “Many countries around the world are grappling with unprecedented numbers of illegal migrants and I sincerely believe that this world-leading partnership … is both humanitarian and compassionate and also fair and balanced.”

On the other hand, the claim of Rwanda as presented by its Foreign Minister, Vincent Biruta is that the UK-Rwanda proposals “offer better opportunities for migrants and Rwandans alike and would help with the British government’s goal of disrupting people-trafficking networks.” Behind these claims are cold financial statistics and calculations in which the migrants are mere figures, not human beings. The British establishment is uncomfortable that the migrants, in comparison with the indigenes, have high birth rates which has implications for the country’s future, and that the country spends over two billion pounds a year to accommodate migrants. So it seeks a cheap way out: offer a $95 million contract to countries willing to take in so-called illegal immigrants and ensure they never come back to the UK.

Rwanda, whose primary interests are financial gains, agreed in 2022 to receive thousands of illegally deported migrants for a fee of $146 million. Specifically on who is to be deported to Rwanda, under the April 14, 2022 “asylum partnership agreement” the British Interior Ministry says they would be: “Anyone who comes to the UK illegally – who cannot be returned to their home country – will be in scope to be relocated to Rwanda.”

Despite their agreement on how to treat migrants by virtually holding them in open prison, both countries still have differences. The Rwandan High Commissioner to Britain, Johnston Busingye, in a video aired on Saturday September 30, 2023, fired a missile at his host, saying although his country has a binding agreement with the UK on the migrants, the latter should stop posing as a compassionate country that has the interests of refugees at heart. He said this is “immoral” and that Britain should address the root causes of migration rather than treat its symptoms.

Busingye said: “They should have a long-term policy of making it a choice for people not to risk their lives coming to the UK. Because right now, many people are not coming here because of war in their country. No, they’re coming here because they are hopeless. They’re coming here because they have no future.” He added: “It is immoral for this country to still see themselves as the refugee country, the solace country, the protection country, the compassion country. They enslaved millions of people for 400 years. They destroyed India, they destroyed China, they destroyed Africa.”

A red-faced British establishment is yet to make a coherent response. It is likely it would ask the High Commissioner to be withdrawn. Finding the chicken feed offered by UK appetising, Rwanda, five months later, turned to Denmark for a similar deal to dump unwanted asylum seekers from that country in Rwanda for a fee. Denmark, a socially conscious country may with this agreement find itself in strange company. It is a country that has a full Minister in charge of foreigners and integration. Its Integration Act is to ensure that “newly arrived foreign nationals get an opportunity to use their abilities and resources to become active citizens on equal terms with other citizens in the Danish society”.

So, how does a country with such a model law, embark on a mission to deport migrants for a fee into an uncertain future? It is also not certain if Europeans from Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Germany who form the bulk of the migrants would be sent to the African country or it would be the comparatively small number of non-European migrants from Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and India that would be sent.

The fate of the asylum seekers in Rwanda is not certain. But what is clear is that the 6,400-kilometre journey from UK to Rwanda is a “One way ticket”, so the victims cannot return. In Rwanda, the asylum seekers may be granted refugee status to remain in the country or seek asylum in another “safe third country”. Were they to remain in Rwanda, the possibility of eventually being expelled and forcibly returned to their countries of origin, is high.

There is the experience of Australia in 2012 seizing asylum seekers and seconding them to Papua New Guinea and Republic of Naru. There were long delays in determining their refugee status; they were virtually abandoned with little food and virtually no medical care even when a number of them developed mental illness. In some cases, 112 of them were cramped into a single dormitory. Some times when they ventured out of the detention centre, they were attacked, raped or beaten by the locals.

Four years later, it was discovered that at least 83 per cent of them were suffering from psychological disorder. The asylum seekers were so badly treated that some begged to be allowed to return to their home countries. Eventually, Australia was forced by international pressure to close the centres. In spite of this experience and the illegality of the UK-Rwanda agreement, most of the world is silent. This is worse in Africa whose ancestral land is to be desecrated. I am not aware of any African country that has called out Rwanda. The message out there is simple: migrate illegally to UK and go to jail in Rwanda.